The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation

10/28/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/29/2021 05:48

Criminal community members accused of illegal banking activities will stand trial in Murmansk Region

The police investigative bodies completed the investigation of the criminal case against six members of a criminal group. Its participants born in 1971-1994 are accused of crimes under part 2 of Article 172 part 3 of Article 174.1, part 2 of Article 187 and parts 1 and 2 of Article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The investigation established that to obtain illegal profits the offender, born in 1971, organized a clandestine financial structure like a bank. It was intended for illegal cashing of funds in the interests of other commercial enterprises and institutions. For these purposes, at different periods of time, the organizer of the criminal community attracted other residents of the region, distributing roles in the illegal activities among all the participants. Active members of the criminal community in the Murmansk Region and other regions found representatives of commercial companies who needed cashing of funds. the criminal scheme participants offered the found entrepreneurs to use the services of their illegal bank.

Money laundering was conducted for a certain percentage depending on the amount. At the same time, registration and bank details of legal entities and individuals both fictitious and controlled by the organized criminal community were used. False contracts were drawn up for services that were not actually provided or for goods that were not actually delivered.

The founder of the false financial institution after a while resigned his CEO powers. However, given the high criminal conspiracy, the smooth operation of the illegal scheme of the financial structure, it did not stop its activities. It was headed by two other active participants - men born in 1976 and 1980. For the entire period of activity, the criminal community extracted income in the form of commissions from illegal banking operations in the amount of more than fifty million rubles.

In total, the investigating authorities established twenty-four episodes of criminal activity. To prove the criminal scheme, the police conducted about fifty seizures of material evidence in various financial organizations, ten searches, during which documents establishing clandestine banking activities, as well as electronic keys of individual entrepreneurs and heads of financial structures were seized. In addition, the guards of law and order conducted one hundred different examinations, interrogated more than eighty witnesses.

Currently, the investigation has collected a sufficient evidence base, in connection with which the criminal case against six members of the criminal organization with the approved indictment has been sent to court for consideration on the merits.

For the committed offense, each participant can expect imprisonment for up to 20 years.